


princess and commander

by blamethenargless



Series: Catradora Week 2018 [7]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Love, Plans For The Future, Post-Canon, Post-War, surrender, talking about emotions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 05:41:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17319053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blamethenargless/pseuds/blamethenargless
Summary: “Sure thing.” Catra pushes herself onto her feet and hoists Adora up as well. Her hands stay on Adora’s as she says, “We’ve got a lot of time to make up for.”orThe Horde has surrendered, and Adora and Catra discuss their future.





	princess and commander

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is my work for Catradora Week day 7. I chose the prompt 'future wishes'. As always, everything belongs to the creators. Enjoy!

The war rages on and on for many years. Long enough that Adora’s turned twenty-one.

But every war has its end, and this is no exception. She has faced off against Commander Catra many times now that Shadow Weaver is disposed of. Still, few of those fights are true fights.

She doesn’t want to hurt Catra, and she knows that Catra does not want to hurt her. The past few months could barely be called difficult, as most of the time, Catra or her subordinates called off fights as soon as Bright Moon attacked. In fact, the Horde declares most battles just to surrender right before their start. It’s purposeful, a slow surrender, teasing the Rebellion. Adora knows surrender is coming—has been plotting towards this surrender for quite a while. Catra always loved to be fashionably late, though, and Adora supposes that this war is just another of her games.

She dons her armor and goes to face her opponent one last time.

The battlefield is almost comical. Adora has Bow and Glimmer flanking her, with Queen Angella right behind. Spread about to her back are various princesses and warriors, fighters who have hoped for a better Etheria for far too long. In opposition, there is only Catra.

Adora steps forward, shedding She-Ra’s skin. “Well met, Commander,” she says with a smile.

Catra shoots her that jagged grin, lips twisting upwards. “Well met indeed, Princess.” There’s a purr in the back of her throat, and it warms Adora’s heart. “I come here today with an offering.” She sweeps into a low, low bow, arms gesturing theatrically. “My surrender.”

Angella flies above, face impassive. Her voice, though, reveals her joy, as she says, “And what are the terms of this surrender.”

“I’m not surrendering to you, Queenie. Your Princess of Power. That’s who I’ll negotiate. I lay down my weapons before _her_.” And, just to prove that she’s telling the truth, Catra removes her metal headpiece. “Catch,” she says, and slings it at Adora. It lands at her feet, that warped metal crown she’d made years ago for her best friend.

“Queen Angella, I promise, I know what you want from this. Allow me to talk with her,” Adora asks, and Angella affirms her request with a steady nod.

“Great!” Catra says. She curls her tail around Adora’s wrist as the two of them walk to Catra’s small tent a few feet off.

Catra holds open the flap for Adora. “Victors first.”

“Thank you, Commander.”

“Oh, you can drop those formalities, Adora,” Catra laughs. “You and I have been planning for quite some time.”

“Too true we have,” Adora murmurs. “I’m glad I was able to help you strike down Shadow Weaver. My only regret is that I couldn’t be there alongside you.”

“Aw, you helped good enough. I could have never gotten inside to assassinate her if you didn’t plan with Entrapta to screw with all the Fright Zone’s tech, or whatever it was you did.”

“Yes. I _was_ pretty great,” Adora smiles. “Now, these terms of surrender—“

“Are exactly the same as the ones we agreed on in private almost a year ago. I just wanted to drag this war on for longer because I knew I wouldn't be able to stand to be alongside that insufferable purple sparkly girl. Battle conditions would be _much_ better than talking to her.”

Adora lets out a peal of laughter. “Catra, shut _up_. Glimmer’s great. You guys will be…explosive, to say the least, but you do have to give her a try. For me,” she adds, taking Catra’s hand in her own.

The other girl flushes, her eyes flicking downwards. “Yeah, well, a friend should always be good to her friend’s girlfriend, right?”

“Oh, come off it. You really think I had time to date her with this _war_ going on? You’re even more ridiculous than I remembered.” But Adora throws her arm around Catra’s shoulders and pulls her close. “Now, though, now that this is all done… I guess I never even thought about what I’d do next.”

Catra leans her head into Adora’s neck. “We’ve been sitting on this surrender for, like, nine months, and you never once considered that there’d actually be an end?”

“I don’t know,” Adora admits. “Maybe I was scared that Shadow Weaver wasn’t actually dead. Maybe I was scared everything would fall through. It was irrational, because we met practically weekly, but I could never shake the feeling that something would screw this all up. That I would never be able to stand on the same side as you again,” she says, voice trailing off into a whisper.

“Adora. Seriously. I promise you, I killed Shadow Weaver, and I killed her _well_. It was bloody. And awesome. And she had it coming. And nothing was going to fall through; after I killed her, her thrall wore off, and most people realized that this was a stupid fight and it would be better to make peace anyways. There was no brewing mutiny, or anything like that. And—Adora, we never stopped being on the same side.” Catra’s tail wraps around Adora’s waist, pulling her in closer. “From the beginning, it was us against the world. And then us against Shadow Weaver. And even when it was us against each other, we never could forget, never could let go, could we? So, I promise you, we will never hurt each other ever again.” Her voice is solemn, and Adora trusts the surety of it more than she’s trusted anything in her life.

“Never hurt each other again,” she echoes.

“Unless you’re into that,” Catra snarks with a wink.

Adora laughs, and tackles Catra to the ground, pinning her hands to the side of her head. With her headpiece gone, with her hair down, with laughter staining her cheeks and her voice and her heaving chest, she’s never looked more beautiful. Adora releases her pressed-up position and rests her head against Catra’s chest, their fingers intertwining.

“Well, Angella still thinks we’re negotiating, and she doesn’t know that you were always fighting with me. So we definitely have time. Oh, they’re all going to lose their _shit_ when they find out we were conspiring for months and didn’t tell them.”

Catra jerks underneath her, surprised. “I didn’t know Princesses were allowed to swear.”

Adora pushes herself above Catra again, eyes glinting with mischief. “I didn’t know Horde Commanders were allowed to be this disheveled. You learn something new every day, though.”

“That’s the beauty of Bright Moon!” Catra quips. She bites a little at her lower lip, and Adora’s eyes latch firmly onto the movement.

“What I mean, though,” Adora says, rolling off of Catra, “is that now I have the time to actually consider what I’m going to do with my future. Now that all the fear’s gone.” She sits up, pulling her legs into her chest. “It’s a lot to think about. What do you have planned?”

  
“Lay here for a few millennia,” comes Catra’s voice from the floor. “But, no, I think I want to see what all the fuss is about Bright Moon. I need to see the luxury that drew you away from me. I highly doubt it could be as refined as the Fright Zone was, but life’s full of surprises,” she deadpans. “And after that…I don’t know. Travel the world, I guess. I have my whole life ahead of me with nothing to tie me down. No one to hold me back. I’m my own person, and- and I’m finally _free_ ,” she breathes. “So, I have a lot of options. Any ideas?”

Adora shrugs. “I mean, I probably have some diplomacy missions to run, kingdoms to unify, whatever else is needed from myself and the other Princesses. Beyond that, though, I don’t really have plans. And I’m kind of blanking on original thought right now.”

“You could always come with me?” Catra’s offer is low and tentative, as if she might shatter their rebuilt bridge, as if it were made of glass.

“You would be alright with that?”  
“Sure thing.” Catra pushes herself onto her feet and hoists Adora up as well. Her hands stay on Adora’s as she says, “We’ve got a lot of time to make up for.”

“Years,” Adora agrees.

There’s a silence that falls. It’s not a comfortable one, either. What do you say to your old best friend, to the girl you’ve forever loved, after she’s surrendered a war to you? What do you tell her after she’s shared all her future wishes, all the inner workings of her heart?

Adora decides on saying: “I’m really not dating Glimmer, you know.”

Catra kisses her.

Kisses her hard, kisses her proud. Backs her up into the small table set at the back of the tent, never breaking their contact. Adora swipes the terms of surrender off its surface, and sits herself on top. Her arms wrap around Catra, one hand sliding down to rest on the small of her back, the other threading in and out of her beautiful hair. Catra responds by putting her own hands firmly on Adora’s thighs, by leaning in further, by kissing more and more and more until Adora’s lying on the desk, facing skyward, and Catra is perched above her.

“Interesting turn of events, Princess,” Catra says, eyes sparkling.

“Oh, shut up, Commander,” Adora replies, and pulls her back down into a kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos/Comments always appreciated :)


End file.
